THE FAIRY FELLER'S MASTER STROKE is on display at the RCA giving access to the stunning detail of a fairy #autumn. Dadd depicts the fairy 'feller' about to split a large chestnut with his axe to make a new carriage for Queen Mab, amid the prickly fruits of the London Plane Tree #FolkloreThursday

BOOK OF DREAMS & GHOSTS 1897
Andrew Lang, best known for the coloured fairy books, was President of the Society for Psychical Research. The book poses some fundamental questions: Do you believe in ghosts? How do you define a ghost? One of the best looking ghost books. That cover! #SpookySunday

Register below in time for #spookyseason to hear me talk about authors who took literary inspiration from the ghostly world of séances 👻 ⬇️

JACK PUMPKINHEAD is a fictional character from the Land of Oz in books by American author L. Frank Baum. Jack first appeared in the 2nd Oz book 'The Marvelous Land of Oz', 1904. Images of my cherished copy! #FairyTaleTuesday

JACK-O-LANTERNS Before the grinning pumpkins of Halloween the folkloric versions or Jack-o-Lanterns, named for the Irish myth, were terrifying; carved from turnips or swedes they had the appearance of shrunken heads #31DaysofHalloween #FairyTaleTuesday

“Modernity has not erased Gothic darkness; it has merely displaced it from the realm of superstition to the realistic and quotidian.”
-a banger from Sam George and Bill Hughes @ogomproject.bsky.social while discussing *The Black Vampyre* in their new book.

Next week: join us for our next online talk: @janebonsall.bsky.social, ''The Seven Sages of Rome' Database'. Tuesday 6 October, 19:00-20:30 BST on Zoom. Tickets £6.00 (£4 for members with promo code) www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/the-seven-...

FEAST OF ST MICHAEL & ALL ANGELS
St. Michael the Archangel defeats the Devil, holding him by a chain, in this unsettling painting by Giovanni Gasppero. Gasparro is a contemporary artist who graduated from the Academy of Fine Arts in Rome in 2007. Check out the devil's ears and horns! #Michaelmas

PINOCCHIO is frankly terrifying; he's set alight, enslaved to a puppet master, lynched by ruffians, swallowed by a fish, plunged alive into a boiling pot and nearly carried off by rabbit undertakers, before becoming a real boy. Illustrations by Folkyard 1914 edition #FairyTaleTuesday

AUTUMN FAIRIES John Anster Fitzgerald's painting is a glorious depiction of fairies in #autumn but if you look closely the rabbit is held captive by the tricksy fairies, symbolised by a rather menacing fairy to the left wielding a hawthorn spear #GothicFairies

Join the @gothicstudies.bsky.social editorial team!

Gothic Studies is pleased to announce a number of editorial positions: 2 associate editors and 1 North American reviews editor.

Click here for more information and to apply: www.globalgoth.org/blog/join-th...

THE SLAVIC MYTHS This collection by Thames & Hudson has some wonderfully gothic myths. In 'The Black Butterfly', the soot coloured insect is the soul of a Serbian #vampire. When he is staked and doused in holy water it disgorges from his throat and flutters into the twilight. Wow - a great read!

The #HarvestMoon will bring increased activity from #werewolves. Compelled to leave their hunting grounds in the woods, they will make their way to open fields at this time to prowl & howl at the moon. They may be found crossing roads & gardens! #FairytaleTuesday

HARVEST FOLK HORROR NOVELS
1. HARVEST HOME by Thomas Tryon 1973
Foundational folk horror. A family move to isolated Connecticut village Cornwell Coombe; the locals are deeply obsessed with corn, ritual, and a harvest festival climaxing on 'kindling night' #HarvestMoon #FolkHorror #WyrdWednesday

AUTUMN MIST I encountered the perfect gothic scene for #AutumnEquinox. Walking through my local Yorkshire churchyard the leaves had begun to fall and it was completely shrouded in mist.

The deadline for the Ann Radcliffe, Then and Now conference that is to be held at Sheffield next June has been extended by a month. Do put in an abstract! www.annradcliffe.org/conference/ @radcliffecup.bsky.social @angelawright1794.bsky.social

THE MOWING DEVIL or 'Strange News out of Hartford-shire'. An English woodcut pamphlet from 1678 that narrates a tale of Satan mowing a field in Hertfordshire. The images of reaping & gleaning are reminiscent of #harvest folklore; also cited as an early example of a crop circle #FolkloreThursday